The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has named a monstrous black crappie from Tioga County as a new state record for the species.

Richard A Pino of Convington hooked the record crappie May 28, 2000, using a minnow suspended below a bobber while fishing from a boat at Hammond Lake. The fish weighed in at 4 lbs, 2.88 ounces and measured just over 19 1/4 inches long. Its girth was 15 7/8 inches.

Pino's fish knocks a 4 lb, 1 oz crappie from the record books. That fish was landed by William S. Gorzelic from Bethlehem out of the Auburn Dam, Schuylkill County in 1991.

In addition to establishing a new standard for crappie in the state, Pino's fish broke a drought of sorts. No new state fishing records had been set since 1997, when an 8 lb, 8 oz smallmouth bass was entered into the books. Throughout most of the 1990s an average of three new records per year were being established.

To be considered for state record certification, a fish must be caught using legal means, in season, from Pennsylvania waters open to the public without charge or fee. Fish taken from farm ponds, fee-fishing lakes, ponds or streams or in waters restricted to use by club members or their guests do not qualify. Potential record fish must exceed the established benchmark by at least one ounce, as weighed on a certified scale.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is the only entity that can certify a new state record fish in the Commonwealth.

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